Endeavour Astronauts Talk With Tucson Elementary Students

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The elementary school classmates of a young girl killed in the
January shootings in Tucson spoke with astronauts aboard
NASA's space shuttle Endeavour late Sunday to get a glimpse
of what life in space is like.

About 400 students from Mesa Verde Elementary School in Tucson,
Ariz., stayed up late Sunday night (May 22) for the chance to
talk to Endeavour shuttle commander Mark Kelly and mission
specialist Mike Fincke as the astronauts sailed 216 miles (347
km) above Earth.

The cosmic call was organized by NASA for Kelly, the husband of
Arizona
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in the Jan.
8 attack that killed six people. Among those killed was
9-year-old Christina Taylor-Green, a student at Mesa Verde.

"In the last four months, I've come to admire your classmate
Christina Green very much," Kelly told the students. "I've come
to learn a lot about her, and when I was her age I remember
watching the Apollo astronauts walking on the moon."

Kelly said he was inspired by the Apollo moon landings and hoped
to help spur interest in space among the students as well.

To honor Arizona, Kelly wore an Arizona Wildcats t-shirt (a Mesa
Verde shirt was unavailable) and he carried the elementary
school's 2010-2011 yearbook, which has a memorial page for
Taylor-Green. Kelly promised that he and his crew would
sign the yearbook and give it to Mesa Verde after Endeavour
returns home June 1. [ Photos
of Shuttle Endeavour's Final Launch ]

Kelly said he has fond feelings for Arizona, and not only because
his wife is from the state. Giffords was shot in the head during
the Jan. 8 attack and underwent surgery last week, while Kelly
was in space, to have a portion of her skull replaced with a
plastic plug. Giffords also watched Kelly launch into space
aboard Endeavour on May 16. Kelly is also wearing a blue rubber
bracelet embossed with the words "Peace, Love, Gabby" in his
wife's honor.

Do they have a doctor onboard for emergencies? No, but the
crew is trained for some instances and can call for help if it's
needed, the astronauts said.

How do astronauts brush their teeth in space? The same way people
do on Earth, but with no running water, Fincke said.
Incidentally, "brushing teeth is important for you guys as well,
not just astronauts in space," Fincke told the students.

Have the astronauts ever seen anything strange
in space ? "I don't think anyone has ever seen a UFO or an
alien, but we're keeping our eyes open," Fincke said.

Endeavour's final mission

Kelly, Fincke and the rest of Endeavour's crew are in the midst
of a 16-day mission to the International Space Station, where the
shuttle is currently parked. The shuttle launched into space on
May 16 to deliver a $2 billion astrophysics experiment and other
spare parts and supplies to the orbiting lab. Two of four
scheduled spacewalks have been performed.

Later today, the astronauts will take some time off to rest from
their busy spaceflight and speak with Italian President Giorgio
Napolitano. There are two Italian astronauts in orbit together on
this flight, one on Endeavour and the other on the space station.
The crew will also be at the space station during an
unprecedented event: the departure of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft
returning three station crewmembers back to Earth.

A Soyuz has never departed the International Space Station while
a NASA shuttle was docked at the orbiting laboratory. Astronauts
aboard the Soyuz plan to snap
photographs of Endeavour docked at the space station as the
capsule departs to capture the unique photo opportunity.

This mission, called STS-134, is Endeavour's 25th and final
spaceflight before the orbiter is retired later this year along
with the rest of NASA's shuttle fleet.

You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on
Twitter@tariqjmalik.
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